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In a highly anticipated matchup of two of the best volleyball teams in the state regardless of class, the third set proved to be the turning point.

Class B, No. 3-rated Northwest trailed C-1 No. 2 Ord 24-22 in the third before rallying to take the set. That run helped the Vikings gain the upper hand in taking a 22-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-23 win over the Chants Thursday at Northwest High School.

In a third set which featured 14 ties, an Allie Welniak kill took Ord to set point before an Allie Carlini kill and a Kayla Bachle ace serve tied the match at 24-all. Then a Chant error and another Carlini kill gave the Vikings the 2-1 set advantage.

Northwest coach Diane Rouzee said she felt the third set comeback was the turning point of the match.

“(0rd) took the lead at a crucial part of the game and I said during the timeout ‘we need this point’ and we did and we ended up scoring four in a row,” Rouzee said. “The kids did it and that was called maxing out because it was back and forth all the way through in not only that set, but the whole match as well.”

Ord coach Wendy Alexander agreed that point of the match proved to be big.

“At that point in time, we really needed to finish,” she said. “We were ahead two points and we couldn’t put the ball away. We have got to trust our training and trust our teammates and finish the game.”

A Kylie Broich kill started a 4-0 run that ended on a Taryn Mayfield kill to give the Vikings a 20-15 fourth-set lead. Ord fought back to within 24-23, but a Kelsey Placke kill ended the match.

Ord outhit Northwest 61-53 but errors proved to be the Chants downfall. They had 21 errors, including eight in the third.

The Vikings took advantage with a balanced attack as Broich and Sierra Holliday each led the way with 11 kills, while Mayfield added nine and Carlini and Placke each had eight. They also had 14 blocks, led by Placke’s eight.

“We made some adjustments as the match went on and we were finally able to get some touches on the block, which helped us,” Rouzee said.

Morgan Alexander dished out 54 set assists, while Welniak led all attackers with 19 kills. Andrea Carson chipped in 15 and Danielle Bruha and Kate Grint added 12 and 10 kills, respectively.

“Even though we outhit Northwest tonight, we also had more errors and we’ve done that for a couple of weeks now,” coach Alexander said. “We just need to be a little more disciplined and clear some things up at the net.”

The Vikings also dug a lot of balls as Bachle led the defense with 27 digs, while Broich added 26 and Carlina chipped in 20.

Rouzee said the Vikings needed to be challenged like they were against Ord.

“I have huge respect for Ord,” Rouzee said. “Both teams were evenly matched teams and great athletic efforts on both sides. Both teams did some great things tonight as there were a lot of long rallies. It was back and forth all night and I thought we had some kids step up when we needed to. There were some pretty tired kids out there.

“And we needed a match like this because we haven’t had a lot of close games like this in a while. At this point of the season you want to be challenged and see how you react to it. I thought our kids really stepped up to the challenge tonight against a great team.”

Both teams will play again on Tuesday when Northwest hosts Lincoln Pius X, while Ord travels to Gibbon for a triangular with Ravenna.

CAIRO — Class C-1, No. 1 Ord had to dig deep to advance to the Lou-Platte Conference Tournament finals.
The Chants lost the first two sets to No. 4 St. Paul, but came back to win the final three sets in a 24-26, 23-25, 25-16, 25-20, 15-7 victory Tuesday at Centura High School.

In a match where Ord set a Class C-1 state-record 72 kills compared to St. Paul’s 45 and having eight blocks, the Wildcats took advantage of the Chants early mistakes where Ord committed 15 hitting errors and four serving errors in the first two sets.
Ord coach Wendy Alexander said it was a matter of the Chants cutting down on those errors and credited St. Paul for its play early on. The Wildcats had only six hitting errors and three serving errors in the first two sets, despite being outhit 34-23.
“We felt like we controlled that match, even though St. Paul won those first sets,” she said. “But give St. Paul credit for that because they played flawlessly and they played a lot cleaner than we did and had very few errors.
“I told the girls that we were doubling them in kills, but we were also doubling them in errors. They came back after the second set and played a cleaner game.”
What also helped the Chants was shutting down St. Paul outside hitter Lesley Fox. The 5-7 junior had a team-high 12 kills, but only had two after the second set. St. Paul coach Matt Koehn-Fairbanks said a reason for that was the passing the Wildcats were getting to setter Claira Thede and he credited Ord for making the comeback.
“They were pretty keyed in on Lesley the whole night, and without better passing, we weren’t able to get some better options,” he said. “I felt Ord’s experience really paid off tonight because they were pretty steady the whole time, even though they gave us some free errors and we were able to capitalize on that. I felt their serving game really got on and we weren’t passing the ball quite as well and that’s why Lesley wasn’t as effective and I credit Ord for that.”
Ord had different players step up at different points of the match. Katelyn DeRiso led the way with 16 kills, one of five Chants to have over nine kills. Morgan Alexander, Wendy’s daughter, had 61 set assists.
It was Andrea Carson who helped Ord in the third set with seven of her 14 kills, including two that finished it. Then it was Cora Svoboda and Danielle Bruha that carried Ord in the fourth set. Svoboda had five of her nine kills, while Bruha had four of her 14 in the set.
The fifth set started back and forth with both teams taking turns with the lead, but after a St. Paul service error tied it at 6-all, Ali Smith served a 5-0 that included an ace serve. Kate Grint had three of her 11 kills in the set and Svoboda ended the match with a block.
“I felt our serve receive did an awesome job putting the ball in a place where we could anyone of our hitters,” coach Alexander said. “We were just making errors early and the girls just cleaned them up as the match went on. Morgan did a nice job of finding the right hitters as the match went on as well.”
To go along with Fox’s 12 kills, her sister Hayley Fox chipped 11 kills and five blocks, while Jaden Jakubowski added eight. Thede had 34 set assists.
Koehn-Fairbanks said St. Paul has come along way since the first match of the season where the Wildcats were swept by Ord. He said he hopes the loss will help later on in the season.
“Hopefully we can get other chances to be in situations like the one we were in tonight,” he said. “We have tough matches coming up and I told the girls to think about what one thing you can do better the next time that happens.”
Now Ord gets another battle with No. 2 Kearney Catholic. The Chants fought off four match points to take a 25-20, 26-28, 26-24 win over the Stars in the Kearney Catholic Triangular Oct. 1. Alexander said she’s thrilled Ord gets another opportunity to play a team like Kearney Catholic.
“It’s going to be a great match. When you get to play a team as good as they are, it’s going to be a fun night,” she said. “We’re very thankful that we get an opportunity to do that.”
In the other semifinals, Kearney Catholic had no trouble with Doniphan-Trumbull in a 25-13, 25-15, 25-19 win.
The Stars went on runs in all three sets to take control. They got out to 16-6, 19-11 and 15-8 leads in the sets.
Anna Squiers led Kearney Catholic with 11 kills, while Courtney Shundoff added 10.
“I think the girls were intimidated because of who they are and because of their history,” Doniphan-Trumbull coach Gina Fitch said. “We just shut down when things don’t go our way for a couple of points. We had our moments in some parts of the match but then we would hang our heads. It’s such a mental game when we play Kearney Catholic.”
Lauren Hinrichs led the Cardinals with seven kills, while Makenna Niemoth added five. Carsyn Poppe had 16 set assists.

The Chants lost the first two sets to No. 4 St. Paul, but came back to win the final three sets in a 24-26, 23-25, 25-16, 25-20, 15-7 victory Tuesday at Centura High School.

In a match where Ord set a Class C-1 state-record 72 kills compared to St. Paul’s 45 and having eight blocks, the Wildcats took advantage of the Chants early mistakes where Ord committed 15 hitting errors and four serving errors in the first two sets.

Ord coach Wendy Alexander said it was a matter of the Chants cutting down on those errors and credited St. Paul for its play early on. The Wildcats had only six hitting errors and three serving errors in the first two sets, despite being outhit 34-23.

“We felt like we controlled that match, even though St. Paul won those first sets,” she said. “But give St. Paul credit for that because they played flawlessly and they played a lot cleaner than we did and had very few errors.

“I told the girls that we were doubling them in kills, but we were also doubling them in errors. They came back after the second set and played a cleaner game.”

What also helped the Chants was shutting down St. Paul outside hitter Lesley Fox. The 5-7 junior had a team-high 12 kills, but only had two after the second set. St. Paul coach Matt Koehn-Fairbanks said a reason for that was the passing the Wildcats were getting to setter Claira Thede and he credited Ord for making the comeback.

“They were pretty keyed in on Lesley the whole night, and without better passing, we weren’t able to get some better options,” he said. “I felt Ord’s experience really paid off tonight because they were pretty steady the whole time, even though they gave us some free errors and we were able to capitalize on that. I felt their serving game really got on and we weren’t passing the ball quite as well and that’s why Lesley wasn’t as effective and I credit Ord for that.”

Ord had different players step up at different points of the match. Katelyn DeRiso led the way with 16 kills, one of five Chants to have over nine kills. Morgan Alexander, Wendy’s daughter, had 61 set assists.

It was Andrea Carson who helped Ord in the third set with seven of her 14 kills, including two that finished it. Then it was Cora Svoboda and Danielle Bruha that carried Ord in the fourth set. Svoboda had five of her nine kills, while Bruha had four of her 14 in the set.

The fifth set started back and forth with both teams taking turns with the lead, but after a St. Paul service error tied it at 6-all, Ali Smith served a 5-0 that included an ace serve. Kate Grint had three of her 11 kills in the set and Svoboda ended the match with a block.

“I felt our serve receive did an awesome job putting the ball in a place where we could anyone of our hitters,” coach Alexander said. “We were just making errors early and the girls just cleaned them up as the match went on. Morgan did a nice job of finding the right hitters as the match went on as well.”

To go along with Fox’s 12 kills, her sister Hayley Fox chipped 11 kills and five blocks, while Jaden Jakubowski added eight. Thede had 34 set assists.

Koehn-Fairbanks said St. Paul has come along way since the first match of the season where the Wildcats were swept by Ord. He said he hopes the loss will help later on in the season.

“Hopefully we can get other chances to be in situations like the one we were in tonight,” he said. “We have tough matches coming up and I told the girls to think about what one thing you can do better the next time that happens.”

Now Ord gets another battle with No. 2 Kearney Catholic. The Chants fought off four match points to take a 25-20, 26-28, 26-24 win over the Stars in the Kearney Catholic Triangular Oct. 1. Alexander said she’s thrilled Ord gets another opportunity to play a team like Kearney Catholic.

“It’s going to be a great match. When you get to play a team as good as they are, it’s going to be a fun night,” she said. “We’re very thankful that we get an opportunity to do that.”

In the other semifinals, Kearney Catholic had no trouble with Doniphan-Trumbull in a 25-13, 25-15, 25-19 win.

The Stars went on runs in all three sets to take control. They got out to 16-6, 19-11 and 15-8 leads in the sets.

“I think the girls were intimidated because of who they are and because of their history,” Doniphan-Trumbull coach Gina Fitch said. “We just shut down when things don’t go our way for a couple of points. We had our moments in some parts of the match but then we would hang our heads. It’s such a mental game when we play Kearney Catholic.”

Lauren Hinrichs led the Cardinals with seven kills, while Makenna Niemoth added five. Carsyn Poppe had 16 set assists.